AP: Obama Touts Ability to Bring Change

Network News

OSKALOOSA, Iowa -- Democrat Barack Obama said Wednesday that while he thinks highly of former President Clinton, voters weary of Washington-style political wrangling want to avoid "the same old thing" as Campaign 2008 unfolds.

"I admire Bill Clinton, I think he did a lot of fine things as president and he's a terrific political strategist," the Illinois senator said in an interview with The Associated Press. "What we're more interested in is in looking forward, not looking backward. I think the American people feel the same way. They are looking for a way to break out of the harsh partisanship and the old arguments and solve problems."

Obama spoke as the former president stumped across Iowa on behalf of his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. The presence of a former president on the campaign trail was getting heavy attention, and the Clintons were campaigning on a slogan arguing they were best prepared to bring change to the country. Obama dismissed that argument, however, saying he thinks voters are looking to turn the page _ and not return to an earlier political era.

"I think I'm in a position to bring about the change that people want," said Obama. "Change can't just be a slogan. Change has to mean that we're not doing the same old thing that we've been doing."

Obama's delicate handling of the former president could be described as wielding a club using a velvet glove, treating a popular former president with great deference while making clear he views himself as the figure of the future.

Obama's critics argue he lacks experience, and Clinton's backers point to her eight years in the White House and her tenure in the Senate as evidence she's qualified to be president. Obama dismissed experience that's rooted in Washington.

"What I know is the kind of experience I have outside of Washington as a community organizer working with families that are struggling, as a constitutional law professor, as a state legislator dealing with the very issues that affect people, people find that experience at least as relevant, maybe more relevant, than experience in Washington."

In the interview, Obama declined to criticize Clinton directly, however.

"Hillary Clinton is a capable person and an experienced person and she's got a good track record as a senator from New York," said Obama, who said his history is one of pushing for change _ not building a resume.

"I would not be in this race if I didn't think I had the capacity to bridge divisions along partisan lines, racial lines, religious lines, that was unequaled in the field," he said.

Obama cemented his status in the top tier of the Democratic field last weekend when he reported record fundraising of more than $32 million. But he declined in the interview to label the race a two-person battle with Clinton.

"What I'm confident about is, we're going to be able to run a very competitive campaign, we've got the resources to do it, we've got the volunteer base to do it and we've got the right message," said Obama.